DENIE

Stayed 2 nights before embarkation on our last cruise. We had our TA book an airport-hotel transfer, and then hotel-port. That made it very easy!

My wife and sister-in-law signed up for the Riviera class on Spanish Tapas (June 2022 Rome to Barcelona). The day of the class they received a notice that the class was cancelled, with no explanation. They were really disappointed....

On the Riviera in June, we stopped at the front desk upon boarding and asked to be upgraded to the Prestige package. They took our cruise cards and issued new ones in about 3 or 4 minutes - very easy.

Our June Oceania cruise ended in Barcelona, and we wanted to spend a full day there. Our flight left the following morning. Someone on this forum suggested Runner Bean Tours (funny name, but very good company - recommended in the Rick Steves guidebooks). We booked a private tour for the 3 of us, so they sent a van that easily accommodated us and our luggage. The tour included the driver in addition to the tour guide, so we got lots of narration in very good English. They offer the option to purchase, for extra cost, skip-the-line tickets to the INSIDE of the La Sagrada Familia Basilica, which is amazing. Our guide was qualified to do the inside tour as well (so knowledgeable!). We also saw the Olympic stadium and sites, other Gaudi buildings, and a wonderful walking tour of the Old Town. At the end of the day, they dropped us off at our hotel.

bbtondo - thanks! Haven't sailed Viking, but we were on our first Oceania (also Riviera) in June and loved it so much! Don't think we are going to look anywhere else now (except for a HAL cruise this December, but that is with a bunch of friends). Loved it so much that we booked a cruise on Vista in 2024.

We were supposed to get one on our 6/15/2022 Riviera cruise, but did not. Fortunately we brought an extra tote just in case.

We did room service a couple times on our June Riviera cruise and found they delivered precisely as we had requested. Overall...a good job!

Following this. We just experienced La Reserve on the Riviera in June 2022. Doesn't make sense if this is moved to Privee. It seats 10 (?) versus the current La Reserve room of 24. Not to mention that this takes nights away booking Privee for private dinners, which I thought was the intent of this dining room.

Only time we have received this many in 1 day. 😂

We got 4 today, all for a different region. I don't mind too much, and browse many of them. 😆

So sorry to hear about your bike accident! Hope you feel better soon. Thanks for all the photos!

We just completed our first Oceania cruise in June 2022 (Riviera - Rome to Barcelona), and found everything to be wonderful! The food was probably the best we've had aboard a ship. Most of our recent cruises were on Celebrity which we thought was very good, but Oceania is much better! Of course, on a 10-night cruise there were 1 or 2 "misses", but nothing worth complaining about....

Oh, I hope so! We loved this experience on the Riviera in June 2022. For some reason I thought there was La Reserve on the Vista, but now that I look at the deck plan, I see it is not there...

We just experienced Barcelona airport in June 2022. We got there 2 hours ahead of time and needed every minute as our boarding group was being called as we got to the gate. Granted, we were coming from a hotel as we stayed an extra day after getting off the ship. We were at the airport at 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning and lines were almost out the door. All ticket counter lines were full. If we could do it all over, we would have gone 3 hours early (which I believe now is the recommended time). I would not advise this...

+1

Another Celebrity convert here. After a couple Covid cruise cancellations, we decided to try Oceania based on the recommendation of several friends. Our experience was on the O-class Riviera, though, and we absolutely loved it. So much so that we booked the new Vista in 2024. Agree with most other posters. For entertainment, we mostly hung out evenings in Martini's. Food was amazing (only one real "miss" on the trip, and some very pleasant surprises).

Probably don't need to expedite anything if you don't have a cruise booked. Our initial passport was done starting with paperwork picked up at the Post Office (I believe). Passport photos done at Walgreens. We had to renew a couple years ago, and it was easily done through the mail, and I believe we did have to turn in with our current passport - which was returned with a hole punched in it. I wouldn't go anywhere outside the US without a passport these days.

Hello Carefree Lady (we are just south of you in Scottsdale, AZ). Another thing is that the Terrace Cafe (Buffet) may feature some of the same entrees as the MDR. Welcome to Oceania - we just completed our first cruise on the Riviera and booked another one while onboard.

Thank you, Aloha! Really enjoyed your posts and comparisons. In our recent past we sailed mostly with Celebrity, but just experienced our first Oceania cruise on the Riviera.

BWV - so sorry about that experience. We generally do not mind sitting with others, but politics (and conversation like this) is something we avoid. On another line we were taken to a table for lunch where there was a couple that ONLY talked politics - and we were on the opposite side. Ugh. We just smiled until they had to leave for an excursion. Good riddance! 🙂

Just tried and got in. We use MS Edge.

We had a lovely stay for 1 night at the Hotel Avenida Palace. Since we were picked up with luggage at the port, toured, and then dropped off at the hotel, I don't think it was too far from the port. The street was beautiful and tree-lined, and a wonderful seafood tapas restaurant attached (but not affiliated with the hotel). We had dinner there, and the staff was amazing! The hotel offered breakfast the next day, and even found something for us since we had to check out at 4:45 to make our flight. It was about 20 minutes from El Prat airport.

We were on the Riviera 6/15/22-6/25/22 cruise Rome to Barcelona, so just last month. We understand there were about 800 passengers. Never felt crowded, no lines anywhere. For the breakfast buffet I was never more than 2nd in line for a fresh omelet. There were never lines for getting off the ship in the port stops or the tender boats (only in St. Tropez). We felt the staffing levels were quite satisfactory, and no aspect of service was lacking. We actually did see a few kids, unexpectedly. But they seemed well behaved, and didn't interfere. Personally, I wouldn't take kids on Oceania.

Love this! This is why we cruise! 🙂

We are on a December 2022 cruise. Just logged in to HAL, brought up our cruise, and booked an excursion.